WSJ reported The Carlyle Group is leaving Africa. It's four senior executives will take over an existing Carlyle Africa fund and manage it as a separate firm. Consider the history Carlyle leaves behind as it exits the continent.
The Carlyle Group wined and dined Libyan strongman Colonel Ghadafi's son Saif in Washington, D.C. in 2008. Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein visited Tripoli in 2006 and said this in 2010:
"I am very bullish on the prospects for Africa. Nothing compares with Africa in terms of economic growth as a percentage over the next decade, [partly because] it is starting from a low base."The African Development Bank invested $50 million in a Carlyle Group fund in 2012.
In 2013 President Obama dined with Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein at the White House then broke bread again with Carlyle executives during a trip to Africa.
Carlyle participated in a Power Africa meeting in 2016 just after the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Rubenstein said it would take a very long time to make modest progress on income inequality, a frequent topic at Davos. Carlyle had two subsidiaries in African tax haven Mauritius.
Carlyle's handling of Cobalt Energy's oil assets in Angola drew the attention of U.S. regulators.
The Carlyle Group dropped fundraising for a Middle East/North Africa fund during an ebola outbreak. Now the PEU is jettisoning a Carlyle Africa fund in the midst of a global COVID-19 pandemic.
Update 5-28-20: The new firm is Alterra Capital. While distancing itself from the continent “Carlyle continues to believe Africa is an important region strategically and maintains its active presence on the continent.”
